Amid soaring inflation and sky-high gas prices caused by the policies of the Biden administration, paying taxes has been particularly difficult for many cash-strapped Americans as April’s deadline approaches. One place not hurting for funds is the U.S. federal government, which according to CNSNews just brought in a record-setting “$2,121,987,000,000 in total taxes through the first six months of fiscal 2022 (October through March).”
As the network morning shows on ABC, NBC, and CBS shared tax tips with viewers throughout the week and warned of inflation, none of the broadcasts bothered to mention the massive revenue the government has been raking in over the past six months. Instead, hosts and correspondents lectured on “procrastination” by those who have yet to file.
“Let’s say you’ve been procrastinating, you don’t think you’re going to be able to get those taxes done in time. What are your options? What can you do?,” ABC’s Amy Robach wondered on Monday’s Good Morning America. Correspondent Eva Pilgrim admonished: “So if you can’t get your taxes done by the deadline, you still need to file an extension request by tax day, and while the extension gives you more time to file, you still need to pay your estimated taxes due by April 18th, otherwise you will have to pay a penalty.”
On Thursday, NBC’s Today show co-host Savannah Guthrie announced: “The tax deadline is coming Monday, April 18th, and the IRS says more than 90 million returns have already been filed, which means tens of millions are still out there.” She then introduced senior business analyst Stephanie Ruhle as “The procrastinator’s friend” and later scolded: “This is the day, no more procrastinating.”
Unlike ABC, NBC actually mentioned inflation as part of its tax tips segment. “What about inflation? Do the taxes recognize that at all, our tax system?,” Guthrie wondered. Ruhle lamented:
Okay, our taxes and inflation do two things, they make all of us sad, dealing with them. They make all of us bummed out. But there are some accommodations, our tax bracket, the standard deduction is being adjusted to reflect that we’ve got less spending power right now. But it also works against us, that child tax credit I mentioned, they haven’t made it any bigger to account for inflation, and we know everything we’re buying for ourselves and our kids right now does cost more.
Guthrie concluded: “Final thought, go do it, do it today.” Ruhle chimed in: “Now or never. Come on, now. Just sit down and do it.”
On Thursday’s CBS Mornings, co-host Tony Dokoupil declared: “In today’s CBS Money Watch, we’ve got some timely advice on taxes if you’re filing at the last minute. And if you’re listening to me now and you haven’t filed, you are.” He tried to paint a rosy picture: “As of April 1st, more than 63 million of your fellow Americans have gotten refunds from the IRS, and the average refund – get this – more than $3,200. That is up eleven and a half percent from last year and it could help with inflation.” He failed to mention those refunds represented all the money that taxpayers overpaid to the federal government throughout the past year.
Talking to business analyst Jill Schlesinger, Dokoupil touted: “People are getting a lot of money this year.” She advised:
Yeah, I mean, so you have $3,200 that’s coming in, on average. And people keep saying, what do I do with the money? So number one, you may want to keep it on hand. We have four-decade highs in inflation, and according to government data, this is costing the average American an extra $350 or $400 a month....so you may need that.
Once again, the network coverage completely ignored any explanation of the consistently record-setting revenue the federal government has been amassing.
CNSNews put it in context:
Prior to this year, the most taxes the federal government ever collected in the first six months of a fiscal year was in fiscal 2021, when the Treasury collected $1,849,508,090,000 in taxes (in constant March 2022 dollars) in the October-through-March period....Even while collecting this record $2,121,987,000,000 in taxes through the first half of this fiscal year, the federal government ran a deficit of $668,267,000,000. That is because the government spent $2,790,254,000,000 during the period.
When will the leftist media call on the government to stop “procrastinating” and finally get its financial house in order?
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